I 
THREE. 
A CHOICE OF FRUITS BY LEADING AMERICAN 
POMOLOGISTS. 
Estimates by Pres. P. Barry, W. C. Barry, 
C. A. Green (N. Y.), Pres. T. T. Lyon 
(Mich.), Pres. Parker Earle (III.), Pres. P. 
J. Berckmans (Ga.), Ex-Gov. R. W. Fur¬ 
nas (Neb.), Com. N. J. Colman (Mo.), Dr. 
T. H. Hoskins (Vt.), Judge Parry, Sec. E. 
Williams (N. J.), P. M. Augur, J. H. Hale 
(Ct.), W. G. Waring (Pa.), Pres. T. V. 
Munson (Tex.), P. Gideon (Minn.), Mrs. An¬ 
nie L. Jack (Province of Quebec), Sec. G. 
W. Campbell (Ohio). 
(Continued) 
FROM EX-GOVERNOR ROBERT W. FURNAS, NE¬ 
BRASKA. 
MEW-YORKER. 
I '3331 
Three Red Grapes: Delaware, Brighton, 
Salem. 
Three Black Grapes: Moore’s Early, Eume- 
lan, Adirondack. 
Three Early Strawberries: Crescent,Wilson, 
Bidwell. 
Three Late Strawberries: Manchester, Ken¬ 
tucky, Windsor Chief. 
Three Gooseberries: Houghton,Smith,Down¬ 
ing. 
Three Raspberries: Marlboro,Brinckle, Doo¬ 
little. 
Three Blackberries: Dorchester, Sable 
Queen, Ancient Briton. 
Three Currants: Fay, White Dutch, Victo¬ 
ria. 
The following is my selection:—Winter Ap¬ 
ples: Johnathan, Ben Davis, and Rawle’s Jan¬ 
et. Fall: St. Lawrence, Fall Orange, Maid¬ 
en’s Blush. Summer: Red June, Early Harv¬ 
est, Red Astrachan. 
Pears we have substantially discarded in 
this State by reason of almost entire failure 
from blight. We have grown some good Bart- 
letts, Seckel, Glout Morceau, Duchesse d’An- 
gouleme, Vicar, Winter Nelis, Flemish Beauty, 
and a few others. 
But few are attempting further to grow 
any plums, other than the Wild Goose, Miner 
and those of that kindred. I have seen some 
fine specimens and good crops of Imperial 
and Green Gage grown in this State. Also 
some fine German Prunes. With the exercise of 
“eternal vigilance” with regard to the cur- 
culio (which is said to be the price of plums 
in many sections), I think we could have plums 
here. Wild ones of extraordinary merit, are 
grown in abundance, almost everywhere, and 
regularly each year. 
For the past five or six years we have been 
without peaches to any extent. This year 
there were a few in Southeastern Nebraska. 
The two winters past scorched trees badly, 
and but little replanting is being done. In 
earlier days we calculated on a good crop at 
least once in three years. Nearly all the bet¬ 
ter budded varieties did well, and many valu¬ 
able seedings of native growth were intro¬ 
duced. A few cultivators obtain peaches yet 
as a reward for severe pruning, or rather 
“heading back ” I am inclined to think that 
if more of this were done, we would have 
more peaches, and have tbem more frequently. 
The Lady and Martha have been about the 
only white grapes cultivated. The Elvira is 
hardy, sets well, with beautiful solid clusters, 
but rots and falls off badly. Severe pruning 
has obviated this to some extent. Last year, 
at our State fair, some splendid specimens of 
Niagara were shown. They were grown in 
Cass, one of the Missouri River counties, over 
a strong lime-stone understratum. 
Nearly all strawberries at all adapted to a 
rich, loose, loamy soil, grow well with us, and 
show excellent and abundant fruit. Some 
varieties of red raspberries, and Early Har¬ 
vest and Taylor blackberries need protection: 
otherwise blackberries and raspberries are “at 
home” almost anywhere iu Nebraska. Cur¬ 
rants and gooseberries give such poor returns 
that but little attention is given them. 
To the question, what do I consider the best 
fruit, I can only reply by saying that superi¬ 
ority is largely a matter of personal taste- 
likes and dislikes. For instance, of all apples 
we grow here, the Jonathan I regard as the 
best, and yet others differ, and prefer Yellow 
Bellflower, Rhode Island Greening, or some¬ 
thing else. 
FROM STATE POMOLOGIST, P. M. AUGUR, CON¬ 
NECTICUT. 
The following is my selection for this State: 
Three Winter Apples: R. I. Greening, Bald¬ 
win, Roxbury Russet. 
Three Fall Apples; Gravenstein, Fall Pip¬ 
pin, Chenango Strawberry. 
Three Summer Pears: Doyennd d’Ete, Gif- 
fard, Marguerite. 
Three Fall Pears: Bartlett, Sheldon, An¬ 
jou. 
Three Early Peaches: Wilder, Mountain 
Rose, Crawford’s Early. 
Three Later Peaches: Oldmixon Free, Craw¬ 
ford’s Late. 
Three White Grapes: Martha, Hayes, Pock- 
lington. 
Three Red Grapes: Brighton, Delaware, Ul¬ 
ster. 
Three Black Grapes: Worden, Herbert, 
Concord. 
Three Early Strawberries: Crescent, Gipsy, 
Chas. Downing. 
Three Later Strawberries: Jewell, Sharp¬ 
less, Jersey Queen. 
Three Raspberries, blackcap: Souhegan, Ne¬ 
maha, Cuthbert. 
Three Gooseberries: Dow'ning, Smith, In¬ 
dustry. 
Three Blackberries: Snyder, Taylor, Erie. 
Three Currants: Versaillaise, Cherry,White 
Grape. 
Currants: White Grape, Cherry, Fay’s. 
The finer varieties of plums and grapes that 
flourish in New York State are worthless with 
us. Many of the valuable New York apples 
arc of no account or inferior with us, notably 
the Baldwin and Fall Pippin. 
Pears, generally, are only fairly successful, 
except the Kieffer, which is becoming won¬ 
derfully popular. It is never known to fail to 
produce a heavy crop of handsome fruit, 
which sells readily at high prices, and as the 
customers become acquainted with the many 
ways in which the fruit can be utilized, the de¬ 
mand increases in excess of the supply. [! Ed.] 
As we introduced the Kieffer and were the 
first to plant it largely, it might be interesting 
to Rural readers to know how it is succeeding 
The trees of the first 10-acre block we set in 
1881, have yielded heavily for the past three 
years, and this year produced 10 baskets or 
about five bushels per tree, which we began 
marketing in October, at prices varying from 
60 to 75 cents per basket, and as they became 
known in the market, they advanced to §1, 
l §1.10, and a large portion of them brought 
§1.25 per basket, while the canners took them 
by the wagon load at 75 cents per basket ear¬ 
lier in the season, and were much pleased 
with them. 
FROM MASTER J. H. HALE, CONNECTICUT. 
The following would be my selection of 
fruits for this section—three of a kind. 
Apples for Fall: Gravenstein, Fall Pippin, 
Hubbardston. 
Winter: R. I. Greening, Baldwin and Rox¬ 
bury Russet. 
Summer Pears: Manning’s Elizabeth, 
Clapp’s Favorite and Bartlett. 
Fall Pears: Seckel, Sheldon and Anjou. 
1 have tested all of the early peaches, but 
have not yet found one worth growing. 
For medium early: Mountain Rose, Old¬ 
mixon Free, Stump the V orld and Ward s 
Late are most satisfactory. 
Lombard is the only reliable plum. 
Grapes: Lady, Empire State and Niagara 
for white. Brighton, Delaware and Ver- 
gennes for red: and Moore’s Early, Worden 
and Wilder for black. 
Strawberries: Bubacb, Crescent and May 
King for early: Miner, Truitt and Jessie for 
medium; aud Jewell, Windsor and Kentucky 
for late. 
Raspberries: Scarlet Gem, Cuthbert, and 
more.Cuthbert for red; Springfield, Carman 
and Souhegan for black-caps. 
Gooseberries: Downing, Smith and Triumph, 
j Blackberries: Lucretia, Snyder and An¬ 
cient Briton. 
Currants Fay, Victoria and White Grape. 
FROM SECRETARY GEO. W. CAMPBELL, OHIO. 
Three Summer Apples: Red Astrachan, 
Early Harvest, Benoni. 
Three Fall Apples: Maiden’s Blush, Che¬ 
nango Strawberry, Fall Pippin. 
Three Winter Apples: Baldwin, Rome 
Beauty, Grimes’s Golden. 
Three Summer and Fall Pears: Beurrd, 
Giffard, Bartlett, Flemish Beauty. 
Peaches are very uncertain here, but I should 
plant, for three varieties: Amsden, Oldmixon 
Free and Crawford’s Late. 
Plums are very little planted, and not profit¬ 
able, generally; Lombard, Shropshire Dam¬ 
son and Jefferson are three good varieties. 
In the western part of the State, plums were 
quite abundant the past season. 
Three White Grapes: Lady, Empire State, 
Pocklmgton; or, Lady, F. B. Hayes, Niagara. 
Three Black Grapes: Moore’s Early, Wor¬ 
den, Concord; or, Early Victor, Herbert, 
Wilder. 
Three Red Grapes: Delaware, Brighton, 
Lindley; or, Ulster Prolific,Vengenues, Wood¬ 
ruff Red. 
Three Strawberries: Chas. Downing, Cum¬ 
berland Triumph, Sbarpless. 
Three Raspberries: Cuthbert, Hilborn, 
Shaffer’s Colossal. 
Three Gooseberries: Houghton, Downing, 
Smith’s. 
Three Currants: White Grape, Victoria, 
Fay’s Prolific. 
Blackberries have not been profitable in this 
section; our winters are often too severe. 
Snyder and Agawam I should regard as most 
promising. 
but this one excels anything I have ever sees 
as a Christmas dessert apple. It grows more 
and more beautiful until the Christmas holi¬ 
days, and will keep until February. It has, 
as may be observed from the specimen I send 
to the Rural, all the excellence of flavor of 
the Fameuse or Snow and beauty of color re¬ 
sembling but much excelling that of the fa¬ 
mous Maiden’s Blush. It was exhibited at the 
meeting of the American Pomological Society 
at Boston, and it took a medal this autumn at 
a horticultural exhibition in New York city. 
I sent a sample to Mr. Barry, and his opinion 
was that it was “worthy of cultivation.” Mr. 
Charles Downing also said the same of it, and 
I have a letter from him, dated December 29, 
•1883, asking for cions of it that he might test 
it at Newburg, which I sent him. Thus it is 
seen that its reputation is already well estab- 
ighed. L. WOLVERTON. 
Grimsby, Ont., Canada. 
Remarks. —Two Princess Louise apples 
were received at this office December 1, one of 
which is shown entire at Fig. 2,and in half-sec¬ 
tion at Fig. 3. (p. 3). The flesh is white, tender, 
juicy, with a richei; flavor and a higher fra¬ 
grance than the Fameuse possesses. It is said 
to have all the good qualities of the Fameuse, 
l besides being handsomer and a better keeper. 
The skin is as glossy as silk and beautifully 
marked on a wax-like, greenish-yellow ground 
with bright splashings of carmine. It is a 
beautiful, excellent apple, and must prove 
very popular wherever it shall be found to 
thrive. 
nes. 
THE RURAL EXPERIMENT GROUNDS. 
WILLIAM FALCONER. 
FROM T. H. HOSKINS, M. D., VERMONT. 
No list of the three best kinds of different 
species of fruit could be made for the whole 
country, or for any large part of it. I must 
therefore take New England. For home use 
(dessert), (for market is entirely another thing) 
I would select as suitable to Southern and. 
Middle New England: 
Three.Winter Apples: Rhode Island Green, 
ing, Yellow Bellflower, Hunt Russet. 
Three Fall Apples: Porter, Gravenstein, 
Garden Royal. 
Three Summer Pears; Rosteizer, Bartlett, 
Clapp’s Favorite. 
Three Fall Pears: Beu r 6 Bose, Seckel, Ful¬ 
ton. 
Three Early Plums: Green Gage, McLaugh¬ 
lin, Washington. 
Three Late Plums: St. Catharine, Fulton, 
Bleecker’s Gage. 
Three Early Peaches: Early Tillotson, Ser¬ 
rate Early York, Foster. 
Three Late Peaches: George IV., Late Red 
Rareripe, Oldmixon Free. 
Throe White Grapes: Rebecca, Lady, Pren¬ 
tiss. 
FROM JUDGE WILLIAM PARRY, NEW JERSEY. 
The following I believe to be “the best for 
general cultivation for home use” for this sec¬ 
tion. 
Fall Apples: Orange Pippin, Gravenstein, 
Hubbardston. 
Winter Apples: Smith’s Cider, Ridge Pip¬ 
pin, Ben Davis. 
Summer Pears: Lawson, Clapp, Bart¬ 
lett. 
Fall Pears. Seckel, Anjou, Kieffer. 
Early Plums: Marianna,Wild Goose,Spauld¬ 
ing. 
Late Plums: Newman, Richland, Golden 
Beauty. 
Early Peaches: Amsden, Troth’s, Mountain 
Rose. 
Late Peaches: Crawford, Oldmixon, Ford’s 
White. 
Early Strawberries: Crescent, Bomba, Bu- 
bach. 
Late Strawberries: Lida, Sharpless, Gandy. 
Raspberries: Marlboro, Brandywine, Cuth¬ 
bert. 
Blackberries: Erie, Wilson Jr., Taylor. 
White Grapes: Lady, Niagara, Pocklmg- 
ton. 
Red Grapes: Wyoming Red, Woodruff, 
Salem. 
Black Grapes: Moore’s Early, Worden, 
Concord. 
Gooseberries: Houghton, Downing, In¬ 
dustry. 
FROM CHARLES A. GRREN, NEW YORK. 
The following are the three best varieties of 
different fruits for general cultivation and 
home use for this locality. 
Winter Apples: Spy, Baldwin, Greening. 
Fall Apples: Blenheim, Duchess, Stump. 
Summer Apples: Fanny, Transparent, As¬ 
trachan. 
Summer Pears: Wilder, Bartlett, Clapp’s. 
Fall Pears: Seckel, Bose, Anjou. 
Early Plums: Bradshaw, Imperial Gage, 
Jefferson. 
Late Plums: Lombard, Reine Claude, Ger¬ 
man Prune. 
Early Peaches: Amsden, Rivers, Foster. 
Late Peaches: Late Crawford, Stump, 
Beer’s Smock. 
White Grapes: Lady, Niagara, Pocklington. 
Red Grapes: Delaware, Brighton, Ca¬ 
tawba. 
Black Grapes: Moore’s Early, Worden, 
Concord. 
Early Strawberries: Crescent, Covill’s 
Early, Ironclad. 
Later Strawberries: Jessie, Bubach, Sharp¬ 
less. 
Gooseberries: Downing, Houghton, In¬ 
dustry. 
Raspberries: Nemaha, Marlboro, Cuthbert. 
Blackberries: Taylor, Stone’s Hardy, Wa- 
chusett. 
Currants: Victoria, White Grape, Fay’s. 
(Concluded next week.) 
PRINCESS LOUISE APPLE. 
The Princess Louise Apple will shortly 
come before the public as a Christmas dessert 
apple, and has, I am sure, no equal. It is a 
seedling of my own; but as I have disposed of 
all financial claims upon it, I may speak some¬ 
what freely of its merits. It was one of sev¬ 
eral self-sown seedlings of the Fameuse, which 
sprang up in a part of the “Maplehurst Fruit 
Farm” lying on the north side of the Niagara 
escarpment, known at Grimsby as 
‘The 
Mountain.” These seedlings I pruned and 
cared for, and several of them are excellent; 
December is a poor time of year to visit a 
place to see what is going on out-of-doors, 
hence as my visit was made in this month I 
lost all the information I might have obtained 
from a summer visit when the trials of vege¬ 
tables and fruits are under way. 
The Rural Grounds are about 1 % mile 
distant from River Edge railroad station, 
and in a very pretty agricultural district. 
The home grounds are chock-full of trees and 
shrubs and vines and hardy herbaceous peren¬ 
nials. The grounds devoted to strawberries, 
raspberries, grapevines and other fruits 
adjoin the ornamental grounds, and the trial 
grounds for grain, corn, potatoes and other 
farm crops are out in the open fields a quarter 
of a mile distant from the home grounds, and 
where they can receive precisely farm-field 
conditions of cultivation. 
The ornamental trees consist of almost all 
popular sorts together with new and rare 
kinds as they are introduced. And as new 
ones come in old ones are cut out to make 
room for them. The place is now full to over¬ 
flowing. Among evergreens, pines, spruces, 
firs, arbor-vitses, and retinisporas abound. 
Deciduous trees include maples of sorts, mag¬ 
nolias, snowdrop trees, stuartias. and the like; 
and every open space in the beds between the 
trees is filled with roses, lilies, and the like. 
The berry garden is after the fashion of the 
ornamental department, only the plants have 
a short lease of life: as soon as they have 
fruited enough to show their character and 
worth, they are cast out to make room for 
newer comers. 
The Hybrid Roses.— The Rural selected 
Rosa rugosa, a singled-flowered, highly orna¬ 
mental Japanese species, for the seed parent, 
because it is single-flowered and, naturally, 
sets seeds very abundantly; for the male 
parent Harrison’s Yellow, a semi-double yel¬ 
low rose was chosen. The seeds ripened and 
were saved and sown, and a lot of youngplants 
were raised from them. These young plants are 
now nine months old; some are 12 to 20 inches 
high and a thrifty-appearing stock. Only one 
has bloomed. I saw and examined the plants. 
One plant much resembles the seed-bearing 
parent, but all the others in wood and foliage 
differ from both parents and appear to be in¬ 
termediate between the two, with, if anything, 
a leaning to Harrison’s Yellow. 
Hybrids Between "Wheat and Rye. —In 
an open field are two patches—duplicates of 
each other—fenced around with six-foot-high 
wire netting. These contain the “hybrid” 
plantations, carefully labeled. The plants 
looked first-rate. 
The Potato Trial Ground is near-by and 
also in the open field. As the same experi¬ 
ments in the same ground and under the same 
conditions as before are to be repeated next 
year, the stake-labels with the records written 
on them, still stand at the ends of the rows. 
The Hens.— In the chicken yard I noticed 
Langshans, Patagonians, Black Javas, Gray 
Dorkings, and Downy Plymouth Rocks. Of 
course, these are here only on trial. The 
Downy Plymouth Rocks are certainly clad in 
downy clothes, but, for beauty, any way, I d 
prefer plain feathers. 
